O VACANCY
Reflections on Primetime Preiew Weekend at DCA
by Rhett Wickham

Michael Eisner was smiling on Saturday morning. Behind the smile was a very, very tired man. That’s not surprising considering that he had a difficult 24 hours before meeting with the 100 Los Angeles and Orange County area school children who were his guests at Disney’s California Adventure on September 6th. But he showed up with a smile, and he displayed a casual grace and boyish charm up on the stage.

Granted, it can’t be easy to face the tragedy of a fatal accident involving a Disneyland guest, and then wake up (after what I’m sure was very little if any sleep) to host a day of press events that are supposed to be all about stirring up excitement for the troubled ABC television network. But by golly, he did it. And it didn’t seem faked or rehearsed. Michael Eisner showed that he is a very capable CEO in times of crisis. The Prime Time Weekend at Disney’s California Adventure is an important press event and an equally as important public launch for a division that has been under great scrutiny both by Eisner’s Board and by investment analysts. I mean it sincerely when I say that he stepped up to the plate Saturday and performed almost perfectly. Almost. If you blinked just right the tiredness of the man showed through. The tired feeling that I’m talking about though is something beyond the effects of the previous day’s tragic accident at Disneyland’s Thunder Mountain attraction. It’s almost as if he’s tired of all of it, and that is sad to see.

Beyond the obvious commercial intent, the event at the Disney Animation attraction at DCA was intended to shine hope on the promise of a future generation of artists, some of whom could very well become Disney animators. One of Eisner’s most admirable qualities is his outspoken commitment to education, and the company has more than put their money where their CEO’s mouth is on this subject. Whenever the Michael Eisner who rescued the Disney legacy starts to blur into the Eisner that I fear has abandoned it altogether, I think about this. Education was my first personal connection to Walt. A letter that he wrote back in 1966 is hanging in the hall outside my office. Walt wrote because he had seen an article and photo spread in the (then) Orlando Star about my Mom’s work as a teacher. Her first grade class had done a unit on Disney characters, welcoming Walt and his crew to Florida. Walt’s letter started my attachment to Disney and the philosophy of learning and dreaming that the man and the studio embodied. I was only seven at the time, and I continued a brief written exchange with him until he died, less than a year later. I then started an ongoing communication with his artists which ultimately led to my work in animation and in teaching and working with writers. It’s a very personal touchstone. Eisner’s focus on education has worked on me in similar ways. Whenever my faith in Michael Eisner has dwindled to little more than a single fading ember, he manages something that blows it back to brightness, sparking a new flame. This DCA event promised to be just such a flame fanning moment.

Whether their future is in pencils or in pixels, the talented and enthusiastic young guests must have shared something of what I felt almost forty years ago. They sat on the floor of the Disney Animation building eagerly awaiting the “Chief Mouseketeer�? and some of the star animators in his stable. Eisner’s team delivered a concert of inspiration. But Eisner wasn’t conducting. Eisner was tired. Not an embarrassment by any means, but not the kind of presentation that you would expect a CEO would prepare when highlighting the work of the division that brands the brand, if you will. And although the events of the past weekend have given me reason to truly admire him for being a mensch before being a mouse during a difficult time, I just can’t help but feel that even without the preoccupation of the moment Michael Eisner would have appeared just as distracted. I can’t quite put my finger on it. For some time now people have been speaking of seeing it in private, but it’s something that’s starting to show in public.

Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois

I have faith in what Disney can accomplish. I think that Walt Disney Feature Animation can do things that will open new paths to creativity in the field. But my faith and the faith of others outside the division will not see the people on that path through to the end of the road. I want to have faith in Michael Eisner’s ability to guide them. The kind of faith required of the leader of doers and dreamers, the leader of artists. Their faith draws from the well of the man at the top.

When we were standing outside waiting to be shepherded into the press area, I had a brief chat with a colleague whose opinions on Disney I greatly respect. She brought up the recent announcement of the layoffs at Feature Animation in both Burbank and Florida. I chastised the way it was addressed by some Disney observers. I had taken great care to talk to several of the key figures who were laid off in both locations and hear their take on what happened to them. I know that the “unrevealed�? source who painted the whole thing as nefarious was not relating what I was hearing from the people directly affected. I was quick to point out to my colleague that nobody - not Michael Eisner, or David Stainton or any other corporate leader - has announced the end of so-called traditional animation at Disney. I went on to say that I thought the focus on traditional vs. digital was very narrow anyway, and that it doesn’t look at the bigger picture of how the art itself is progressing and changing during what I think is an exciting, albeit an often painful period of growth. I still believe this, I believed it before I went in, when I was there watching and listening to Don Hahn and Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois and Andreas Deja and Glen Keane and Eamonn Butler, and I believe it right now. As I said, I have faith.